Siakam broke out during his third year in the league, winning the 2018-19 Most Improved Player award. He became a full-time starter and saw his usage rise to 23.1 percent from 14.4 percent the previous season. Across his 80 appearances, he averaged 16.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 31.9 minutes. Siakam was extremely efficient in the process, ranking 16th in the NBA in true shooting percentage (62.8). He put together some big games, dropping at least 30 points on five occasions, plus a 40-point outing, as well as accumulating 18 games with double-digit rebounds and 17 games with more than four assists. With Kawhi Leonard leaving the Raptors over the offseason to play with the Clippers, Siakam may be in line for another leap forward. With Leonard off the court last season, Siakam averaged 20.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and a combined 1.9 steals/blocks per 36 minutes. It's possible Siakam's efficiency will suffer on a worse version of Toronto, but he should be one of the main offensive options alongside Kyle Lowry and Marc Gasol. Read Past Outlooks

$Signed a four-year, $129.92 million contract extension with the Raptors in October of 2019.

Personal Bio

Pascal Siakam, son of Victoire and Tchamo Siakam, was born in Douala, Cameroon in 1994. Siakam comes from a basketball family. His three older brothers -- Boris, Christian and James, each played collegiate basketball, at Western Kentucky University, Indiana University - Purdue University at Indianapolis and Vanderbilt University respectively. Siakam spent his formative years at a seminary in Bafia, Cameroon, handpicked by his father to enter into a role in the Church. Everything changed after he received an invitation to attend Basketball Without Borders Camp in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2012, landing a scholarship to attend God's Academy in Lewisville, Texas. A year later, he moved on to play collegiate basketball at New Mexico State University. Pascal's last name is pronounced See-AH-kum. His nickname is "Spicy P". You can follow Siakam on Twitter and Instagram @Pskills43.

College/International Summary

Pascal Siakam spent two years (2014-16) at New Mexico State. He started 27 games as a freshman and averaged 12.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game, appearing in 34 contests for the Lobos. In recognition of his efforts, Siakam was named the WAC Freshman of the Year. As a sophomore, Siakam improved in nearly every statistical category. He started all 34 games he played, averaging a double-double, with 20.3 points, 11.6 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game. Those numbers led the WAC, and Siakam was named the 2016 Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year, becoming a finalist for the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award. After his sophomore season, Siakam entered the 2016 NBA Draft, where he was selected by the Toronto Raptors with the 27th pick.

ANALYSISSiakam was magnificent for the Raptors, who pulled out one of their more impressive victories of the season. The shorthanded Raptors were already without a number of players and lost Norman Powell (ankle) to an injury after only two minutes. Against all odds, they were able to roll a full-strength Jazz outfit on their own home floor. Siakam continues to put together a fantastic season and is certainly in the discussion for the most improved player, an award he currently owns.

Siakam was the NBA's Most Improved Player in 2018-2019. He played in 80 games during the regular season with the Toronto Raptors, starting 79 of those contests. The Cameroon native averaged career highs of 16.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per contest. Siakam shot an impressive 54.9 percent from the field. That mark was 19th in the NBA. He notched 18 double-doubles during the regular season. He torched the Washington Wizards on Feb. 13 for a career-high 44 points. During the regular season, Siakam scored at least 30 points on five different occasions. He took his game to even greater heights during Toronto's magical championship run in the playoffs. Siakam registered six double-doubles in 24 playoff contests. He tallied 32 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two blocks and one steal in Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. He had team highs of 26 points and 10 rebounds in the title-clinching Game 6 win.

2017

Pascal Siakam appeared in 81 games during the regular season for the Toronto Raptors in 2017-18, his second season with the franchise. He started five of those contests. Siakam averaged career highs across the board with 7.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per contest. He scored in double figures on 24 separate occasions during the regular season. Siakam scored a career-high 20 points at Golden State on Oct. 25. He snared a season-best nine rebounds on Apr. 8 against the Orlando Magic. On Feb. 28, the New Mexico State product arguably had the best game of his season when he delivered 14 points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block, plus 7-of-9 shooting, during a win at Orlando. The Raptors finished at 59-23 and defeated the Wizards in the first round of the playoffs before losing to Cleveland in the second round. "Spicey P" appeared in all 10 of Toronto's playoff games that season. He averaged 6.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per playoff clash. He had his best game of the playoffs in the clinching win over the Washington Wizards in Round 1. In that Game 6, Siakam tallied 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, as the Raptors finished off the Wizards by a score of 102-92 and won the series.

2016

Siakam was selected in the first round (27th pick) of the 2016 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors. The rookie out of New Mexico State appeared in 55 games for Toronto with 38 starts and averaged 15.6 minutes per contest. Siakam's NBA debut occurred on opening night, Oct. 26, during a home win over Detroit. The rookie started and delivered four points, nine rebounds and one steal over 22 minutes in the win. "Spicy P" started the Raptors first 34 games of the season and during that spell posted per-game averages of 4.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in 18.5 minutes per contest. Siakam appeared to hit the rookie wall in late December, however, as he saw minimal minutes and was shifted to a bench support role. Siakam's minutes further declined when the Raptors acquired veterans Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker at the trade deadline. Over the last 48 games of the regular season, Siakam would appear in 21 contests (four starts) and averaged 11.0 minutes per game. The Raptors ended the season at 51-31 and defeated the Bucks in the first round of the playoffs, but lost to Cleveland in the second round. Siakam appeared briefly in two of Toronto's 10 postseason games.

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Past Fantasy Outlooks

2018

2017

2016

After playing just 55 games as a rookie, Siakam saw his role grow in his second season in Toronto. He averaged a career-high 20.7 minutes, while adding 7.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists across 81 games. He finished with a 50.8 percent clip from the field and while he attempted to extend his range (29 attempts), the experiment didn't exactly go well and he shot just 22.0 percent from three-point land. Still, Siakam provided plenty of energy and has a ton of athleticism, so the Raptors could try and tap into that more during the upcoming season. The third-year big man does appear to have an opportunity for more playing time following the organization's big offseason. DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl were traded to the Spurs in exchange for superstar Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. Poeltl's departure, specifically, should afford Siakam more frontcourt minutes considering the Raptors didn't bring any bigs back in the deal. While Siakam will need to continue to develop his shot and become a much more productive three-point shooter, the added workload could boost his numbers elsewhere across the stat sheet and he'll have every chance to take the next step forward in his development. However, his Fantasy expectations shouldn't be too high and he'll still likely be avoidable in all but the deepest of leagues.

Siakam was drafted out New Mexico State with the 27th pick of the 2017 NBA Draft and saw plenty of opportunities to contribute during his rookie campaign. The 23-year-old end up starting 38 of the 55 games he played in, but struggled mightily to make much of an impact and averaged just 4.2 points and 3.4 rebounds across 15.6 minutes. Due to his struggles, the Raptors ended up scaling down his playing time as the season wore down and after the Raptors added both P.J. Tucker and Serge Ibaka at the trade deadline, Siakam was essentially a non-factor in the team's regular rotation. Other than Tucker, the Raptors have nearly the exact same roster from a season ago, as they re-signed both Kyle Lowry and Ibaka. That means Siakam is going to be stuck in a reserve role yet again, so it's unlikely he'll see improvement on his rookie year numbers unless an injury occurs higher up on the depth chart. Look for Siakam to battle both Lucas Nogueira and Jakob Poeltl for minutes off the bench in the frontcourt.

Siakam, a 6-foot-10 power forward out of New Mexico State, was the Raptors' second first-round selection of the 2016 NBA Draft, settling in as the No. 27 overall selection. Siakam turned in impressive averages of 20.4 points (on 53.6% shooting from the field), 11.8 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game last season, though as a small-school product, the big man's numbers carry the stigma of mostly coming against low-level competition. His draft stock didn't really begin to take off until he shined during the measurements portion of the NBA Combine. Siakam checked in with a huge 7-foot-3.25 wingspan, and that coupled with the non-stop hustle he displayed in workouts and games would seemingly make him a good candidate to eventually serve as a rotational big man at the next level. While Siakam's physical advantages worked for him against shorter players in college, he could have trouble exerting his will in the NBA, particularly on the offensive end. With Jared Sullinger and Patrick Patterson in the fold to handle the bulk of the minutes at power forward, Siakam won't be asked to see regular time as a rookie. However, since neither of those veterans are under contract beyond 2016-17, Siakam could have a clear path to a rotation spot as soon as next season, but his ceiling is fairly limited as a player more reliant on effort than raw talent.